Miles To Go
by ianii
Summary: [HB] On a mission in which Botan and Hiei are left alone, they learn the meaning of a life saved and what constitutes being a hero. [Ch.6 up]
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Here's the first chapter! More like a prologue, actually. Like a hint at the future. Y'know? Anyway! I decided, due to challenges/prompting, to write a multi-chapter HB story thing. You'll find that I probably won't update this too often, and also that it won't be very long, but I'll try to at least get the first chapter up by this week. And to finish the story to the end.

About the actual story: It's gonna be action-packed, so I hope you're not all looking for a squishy tale of love&romance. x) Also, it _does not_ take place after the series, and unfortunately I do not know at which point it does take place. But Yukina's existing, so somewhere between the two extremes. Keep in mind that this whole thing is very much inspired by extraneous literature, most noteably Robert Frost's poem 'Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening', in case you're any bit curious as to what direction it's going in.

Now, on with it!

* * *

**Miles To Go**

_Prologue_

He never liked snow. Every part of him detested its very existence, despite the one-half of his heritage which said otherwise.

The wet of the whole ordeal got right down to his bones in a way that rain never did. He felt his movements slow, felt his body get heavier, and heard a definitive _creak_ in his joints. For Hiei, it was like a window to the older years in his life he would probably never get to see.

Every year the winter came and every year Hiei went, fleeing the inevitable season. It became less of a thought-out strategy and more of a habit he partook in annually at the end of fall. He followed the birds south and trailed after them when they returned to their homes. He had no place to nest, however, and found that he traveled with different flocks each time.

It was only recently that Hiei discovered it was growing more and more difficult to escape the weather. Now he had a purpose. He had orders. And, more importantly, he had to carry out these new-fangled orders. Not that he liked it, but he supposed it carried a certain ring to it when he thought about how he had people relying on him to do a job.

He couldn't just up and leave like he used to. That might have been the underlining bad thing about the whole idea of having a purpose.

It was snowing now. Snowing out there, outside of these four flimsy walls, and he had forgotten how much he loathed the feeling it gave him, even behind a small barrier such as this. He sat against the walls, having no real seat to lounge on, and half-consciously drew circles in the dirt with the tip of his sword.

Along with snow, Hiei had entirely no patience for waiting, and right now he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Go outside (in the snow, mind you) and find something to do, or stay here and continue to do absolutely nothing? He chose to stay, because although he could still feel the effects of his condition in a weak little shack like this, it would be far worse being hit by the monstrous little flakes. Besides, it should be ending soon. Kurama would eventually find his way here, and the neck-breaking burden that had been dumped on him would soon be over.

Being stranded in the middle of absolutely nowhere in the snow with someone to 'take care of' wasn't Hiei's idea of a fun time.

As if the idea had just now come to him, he stood up from his crouching position on the floor and stared across the room at the heap of cloth on the only known furniture in the shack. She was still alive, if just barely, and it was probably the fire he lit in the center of the room that was keeping her breathing. It kept most of the dampness out, which meant a blessing for each of them.

He strode across the room to check on her as Kurama had instructed him to, looking for any symptom he could find. The girl's face was flushed pink, with beads of sweat forming on her forehead. One hand was pressed against her vulnerable stomach (which was sporting old bandages that needed to be reaffixed) while her other was clutching at the comforters around her.

_Lovely. A fever to go along with a stomach wound. _Hiei tapped one foot impatiently, wondering where that goddamned fox was. They were running out of time.

"H…" A wheezing sound was emitted from her heaving body. "Hello?"

Hiei silently debated with himself whether or not to respond. Before she hurt herself more, he decided to at least let her know he was there. "What?"

"Can you… make the fire bigger?"

He grunted and grudgingly brought himself around to do her bidding. After all, he didn't mind a bigger fire. Anything to keep that grinding wetness out of his bones. In the back of his mind, he wondered if maybe she had the same affliction.

Hours later, he was still in the same predicament. Kurama had still not come, and he was growing more and more restless (or was he weary?) by the hour. Any firewood he had on hand was running out, and therefore so was the fire. His mind, active though he himself wasn't, had made the necessary plans, and done the necessary mechanics for leaving. Waiting wasn't going to do anything.

So he stood, overlooking the sick and sleeping girl, regarding her form, making notations as to how much she would weigh. That kind of thing.

"Bo-tan." He pronounced the separate syllables of her name apart, each character bursting out of his mouth with a visible rush of air. "You had better not die. I will lose all respect I have ever had for you if you do."

Of course, she said nothing back at him. She was sleeping.

When the fire finally ran out of fuel and the shack in the woods started getting that snow-feeling, Hiei lifted her from the bed and prepared to step out into the wilderness. As he hefted her onto his back, he started running in the direction he knew was east.

He runs because it is the morning. He runs because she needs help. He runs because he has always ran, because he is more like the migrating flocks of birds rather than the dragon he has tamed with his mind.

And it was promised to him that it would all be okay.


	2. Stuck on the Bank

A/N: It should be known that I am in no way happy about this chapter. It is written fairly poorly and is full of far too much dialogue. But I decided to put it up anyway, seeing as how I outreached my one-week promise by, what, two or three weeks? Sorry, guys.

Also, no juicy goodness in this one. This is just putting the situation in perspective for you all. Again, I'm sorry if it's at all unclear. I wasn't really sure how to put it into words. I think I'll go into more detail in the next chapter, where there will probably be more stuff you all care about. There are also lots of scene changes, and some OC bad guys. I do love me some bad guys.

Again, sorry about the lateness. :(

* * *

**Chapter I: Stuck on the Bank**

"Koenma?"

"Yes?"

"This is not my idea of a vacation."

"Hehe, well, you know how it goes…"

"Not really. Do enlighten me."

"'Us,'" Kurama corrected.

"Right." Yusuke leaned over the desk real impending-like. "'Us.'"

Koenma pulled at his collar _not-at-all_ nervously. "Well, I sort of kind of need you to run an errand for me…"

"'Sort of kind of'?" Yusuke echoed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Welllll…."

Kurama sighed. "It's no use. We'll just have to finish it as quick as possible."

Yusuke didn't have the same sentiments. "That's not good enough! I promised both Keiko _and_ my mom that I'd be there for the holidays!"

"Wow, Urameshi, I never knew you were so chivalrous."

"Wow, Kuwabara, I never knew you had a vocabulary that big."

Koenma sat at his extravagant (but also messy) desk, wondering why, oh why, did this have to happen during the vacation. Botan looked on with sympathy as the young ruler tried to calm his detectives, and Kurama didn't move a muscle to stop them. Hiei, as you can imagine, was completely detached and managed to block out all (most) of the noise.

"Never mind, the both of you!" Koenma angrily slammed a baby fist on the desk. "This'll take about an hour, so just get it over with." When no one replied (except for the unmistakable eye-roll from Yusuke) the grand-master overlord king (as he liked to call himself) re-opened the file at hand and got to explaining.

"Today there's a demon ravaging small villages."

"Is _that_ all too surprising?"

A sharp glare in the detective's direction.

"Anyway," Koenma continued. "He's a small demon, can't be a class higher than B. But I need you to get him imprisoned and soon, because the more villages or whatever he wrecks, the more strength he achieves. I would send someone else on this errand except for one thing: he is nearing a relic, long ago buried under tons of dirt and rocks. Literally, tons. I know 'cause I was there."

Yusuke mouthed at Kuwabara something along the lines of 'braggart'.

"Huh? _Speak_, Urameshi!"

Unfortunately, Kuwabara could not read lips.

"…Never mind."

Koenma wisely chose to ignore them before it evolved into yet another quarrel. "Just get him out of the way so we don't have to worry about him anymore."

"You got it, champ."

"And don't call me 'champ'!"

* * *

If there is ever a situation from which Hiei draws personal wisdom from, he makes sure to mark it down, for they don't come too often. There are also times when he feels his IQ drop because of some outside events. He marks those down, too.

"Where are we?" Kuwabara asked, peering into the forest.

"The Makai, stupid."

"But-"

Kurama was the first to interrupt the poor fellow, knowing that if he let anyone else do it, it would become tedious. "It does make it worse that Koenma did not tell us _when_ or _to where_ we were going."

And he hadn't. After he finished his speech, he had merely pressed a button on his desk, and the image of the poor team flickered out of his office and into some unknown territory.

"So what now?" Yusuke kicked a rock, still examining his surroundings.

"If the demon is attacking villages in search of this artifact, we should be able to find him in a village," said Kurama, ever the intellectual.

"… So which way's a village?"

Hiei couldn't be_lieve_ he was dealing with these idiots. He voiced his opinion. "I can't be_lieve_ I'm dealing with you idiots."

He then started off in a direction. In fact, he was walking on a dirt path road, next to which was a sign which read: 'Town: thirty miles'.

"Nobody asked you, Shorty." But Kuwabara relented and followed him and the others anyway.

* * *

"They're finally gone."

"That they are, sir."

Botan and Koenma stood in the office, now alone, one thanking the gods they were gone and the other wondering what just happened.

"Well, it shouldn't take them so long, and their families should thank me that it's not too big a threat."

"I don't think they'll be too happy."

"Details," Koenma said, waving it off. "I'm hungry."

Botan raised an eyebrow archily. "Shouldn't you be watching their progress instead of thinking about lunch?"

"Maybe later."

Botan exhaled loudly, as if making a point.

Koenma sat thoughtfully in his chair for a few choice seconds, staring over the mounds of paperwork, then to Botan, and then to the monitor (now turned off) and back at the paperwork again.

"Well," he said. "I suppose I can eat and watch them at the same time."

"Good boy," Botan commented as she flipped open the mission file to look at it for herself.

After many moments of pushing around important documents (some of them falling into places where they will never be found again) he finally found the remote, leaned back and pressed the button expectantly. And then he pressed it again. And again. And again…

"What is going on here!"

The screen showed nothing but fuzz and static.

"Oh dear." Botan slapped the file open in front of the irked child. "Did you know that?"

"Know what?"

"That," She said secretively for the sake of the plot, and tapped the red box at the bottom reading 'WARNING'.

"Oh dear," Koenma echoed.

* * *

"S'that them?" A suspicious looking silhouette asked another in a high pitched (yet still male) voice. He adjusted his seat, trying to get a better look at the mist in front of him depicting the four Spirit Detectives on the dirt path. "Should we start goin' ta get 'em?"

A much more elfin creature next to him stirred, her voice echoing in whatever kind of cavern they were in. "Togou, you're a nasty, nasty guy," she informed him coyly whilst pulling on the hem of her Pocahontas-styled dress.

The two of them could have passed for siblings, and they probably were. Their similarities lied in their hair color (a dark, dark brown) and their knack for not taking much seriously. However, certain things still set them apart as will be evident later on.

"No…" This time, an old man spoke, voice cracking as he wheezed out the words. "This is not all of them."

The younger man, identified as Togou, looked skeptical. "There's about four. They're all pretty damn strong, too."

The old man, half-shrouded with plot-device shadows, slowly waved away the mist with the vision, making the image disappear. "I believe I told you that this is not all of them."

Togou mumbled a "Yes, sir" as the girl giggled at his expense.

"Peichan, I believe you should pay attention to this, as it is your job to block the dimensions."

Peichan promptly shut up, but a smile still lingered on her face. Togou elbowed her in the ribs.

"There is but one more to arrive, and that is when I will allow you to fulfill your respective duties."

"A _she_!"

A thump was heard as Peichan whacked Togou over the head.

"She is not a fighter," The eldest continued. "But she will play a role. The conditions must be correct, and we must allow for them to happen."

Eerie music started to play.

* * *

Walking was/is tiresome. It dragged on even as their feet got weary and their legs less enthusiastic. It just never let up. At first, the complaints were abundant. It was all 'Koenma is a butt face' or 'Koenma is retarded' or 'Koenma can suck my--'

…Well, let's not go there.

But eventually the insults ceased, and they drew closer to their destination.

"Goddamnit. This has to be the lamest mission we've ever been sent on."

"We shouldn't even be calling it a mission."

"Well, you're gonna once I tell you this."

Nearly everyone's head snapped around at the new voice.

"Botan," Yusuke said carefully. "Why are you here?" He knew that whatever the reason that Koenma had for sending her over was, it was probably a bad one.

She deftly hopped off her oar, landing on her feet in a cloud of dust. "Well, you see, you've fallen into a trap." She paused long enough to dispose of her traveling tool and then continued. "The demon you were supposed to catch is just a ruse. There are some really nasty guys behind the disguise, and they were trying to lure you here to probably get you out of the way."

"How bad are they?"

"Um," Botan counted off her fingers. "We're pretty sure that there's three. Two male, one female. I can't give you a description, though. Anyway, the point is, one of them can manipulate who can pass through the different dimensions. Like, Spirit World, Demon World -Human. Right now, they're cutting off traffic to the Demon World. The television didn't work and neither did your compact phone thing, and I was only barely able to get here 'cause they were starting to block the inter-dimensional travel, but hadn't finished it. The portal probably won't even work again."

"Well, this is certainly an interesting development." Kurama, standing next to an unimpressed Hiei, observed. "Does that mean even you can't go back now?"

"Ye…" Botan's word died in her mouth and her face visibly fell. "Omigod."

The others were all looking on with some curiosity at the ferry girl who realized just as she came to inform them that she couldn't return.

"What's the problem? We'll be able to take care of ya, piece o' cake." Yusuke slapped her back, trying to be comforting. "Kuwabara did the same for Yukina, you know."

Hiei hid his flinch only a little bit.

"Yeah!" Kuwabara enthusiastically threw a fist in the air. "We'll protect you like nobody can! I'm sure Yukina wouldn't mind if I lended my affections to someone else."

The demon continued to look none-too-pleased.

Botan couldn't believe her luck. Stuck here, with these animals? Really! Not that she didn't believe them when they said they'd protect her (they'd done it countless times), it was just… Well…

She continued to poke feverishly at the buttons on some geeky device from Spirit World, but to no avail. For a few moments, she was the center of attention, though she couldn't imagine why. All she was really doing was freaking out because she was _stranded in the middle of absolutely nowhere with these… these fighting people!_

"I guess," She surrendered. "I'll just have to follow you and give you my best."

"Awesome. Now let's go," said Yusuke, ever impatient.

Kurama took a more sympathetic light. "I'm sure you'll do a great job."

Hiei raised a disbelieving brow in their direction, but didn't say anything. It wasn't any of his business if they let the woman be killed, doubtless that she would.


	3. Of Rescue and of Agitation

A/N- This one came out of my fingers faster. So I give it to you faster! Maybe this one is little more... HB-y. Not really? Yeah, I guess you're right. But c'mon, this is Hiei we're talking about. He doesn't soften up too fast. But at least there's more interaction. Right? Right?

Er. Anyway. There are some questions that I failed to adress last chapter. Since the responses I got for ch.1 were few and far between, the questions all come from the prologue.

The prologue was less of a prologue, I suppose, and more of a window of what's to happen in the future of this fic. It is to let you know what's going to occur later on, and it is a scene taken out of the turning point of the whole thing. Where the romance really springs out, etc. I did not specify where any of the things in the prologue come from (like what happened to Botan or why they're in a shack), which means many questions will be answered as the chapters progress. I am a good-movie junkie, and this kind of prologue is one that often happens in suspense thrillers. I hope this answers any questions you may have had, and thanks to those of you who have reviewed so far! I hope to see more of them, as they inflate my ego. x)

* * *

**Chapter 2- Of Rescue and of Agitation**

With the help of a map, the five unlucky people discovered that the sorry state of the place in which they landed themselves was an island called Hilali Island. It was small, run-down, and apparently the port hadn't been used in years. The fact that it was on the verge of winter did not help.

Kurama said they were in economic depression. Yusuke couldn't understand why demons would need an economy.

"They just steal whatever they want anyway!"

"Yusuke, you shut your mouth!" Botan jumped to their defense. "You have no right to make generalizations!"

"Well, I can at least say 'a majority of them', right? I mean, look at the ones we're traveling with now! Both Hiei _and_ Kurama are thieves!"

Hiei couldn't help puffing proudly while Kurama chose to ignore them, focusing instead on the trees.

Botan crossed her arms over her chest, grumbling a little. "_Were_. They _were_ thieves." She looked over at the two standing side by side, one pensive, the other smug. "I hope."

"Excuse me," Kurama interjected, observing a constant rustle in the leafy canopy. "I think we have a problem."

That was four hours ago.

Now they were separated. Well, not all of them. But as soon as Kurama uttered his warning, a wall of… _something_ fell down with a thunderous noise. It split the team in two: Yusuke and Kuwabara on one side and Kurama, Botan and Hiei on the other.

The shockwave the falling wall emitted was enough to send most of them flying—or at least scrabbling at the rocky ground for a proper foothold.

The 'wall' as I'm choosing to call it, could have been described as a 'wall of light', as that is what it looked like. However, it was more obviously a wall of spirit energy forcibly blocking one half of the island from the other, carving a jagged canyon into the earth beneath it, and if you were there, you could even see the mounds of dirt it was digging out on either side.

"Tch." Hiei knelt on the ground to keep his stance as dirt, rocks and people alike got blown away from the glowing barrier. His sight was none too good, but he squinted against the debris and spotted Kurama struggling to stay in one place a few yards away. Yusuke was on the other side, along with Kuwabara. Yusuke had been backed up all the way against the line of forest behind him, and Kuwabara, miraculously, had only moved about four feet. That left…

_Damn that idiotic ferry woman!_ He knew for sure that she was on his and Kurama's side, but also did not manage to see where she had gotten blown away to. He whipped his head around, but saw nothing but the field backing him up. There was a lake, but there wasn't much chance that she got blown into _that_. Or was there? Hiei thought back to when she had first arrived. He knew she had a death wish for accompanying them.

_But there was no other safe place for her to stay_, another voice reasoned.

He gritted his teeth. _Death wish. She had a death wish._

_She's also a member of the team who needs help. A _non-fighting_ member of the team._

Hiei cursed his logic for one of the rare moments in his life and let go of the ground, his jump having greater speed and height with the added gusts.

"Hiei?" Kurama yelled in alarm when the small apparition turned and left. With one glance back across the wall at Yusuke and Kuwabara, he turned as well and ran after him. _They can take care of themselves. What's important right now is that we stick together._

Hiei leapt across the field towards the lake, where he was slightly surprised that there was still wind all the way over here. From this vantage point, he could see that the wall reached all the way up into the sky so that he couldn't tell where the storm clouds ended and the wall began. It never seemed to end to the sides, either, and instead stretched in both directions through the trees and everything else.

He turned his mind back on finding that stupid woman. He was now satisfied that she hadn't fallen into the lake; it was frozen, and there were no holes in it to be seen. So where could she be off to? He scanned the scenery around him, fighting to keep leaves and hair out of his face. Wait, wait- who was that…? He almost felt disappointed as he recognized Kurama's form running towards him. Hiei watched him approach disinterestedly. His honor code told him to be looking for someone else.

"Hiei?" Kurama drew to a halt in front of him.

"You almost look out of breath, Kurama. Losing your touch?"

"Save it, Hiei," He said warningly. "What are you doing over here?"

"Looking for the woman," Hiei informed him, and turned his eyes once more to the surrounding land.

Kurama snapped his head to the lake. "She's not-?"

"Idiot. The lake's frozen."

Kurama gave a relieved sigh and turned his back on the body of water as well. "It should be snowing soon, then."

Hiei didn't respond.

"Can you tell where everyone is?"

The apparition's face soured. "That won't work right now. Haven't you felt it yet, fox?"

Kurama frowned, and Hiei took that as a 'no'.

"The air is filled with some imbecile's spirit energy. It will be impossible to distinguish anyone else's energy from that."

The fox's face lit up with understanding. "I can tell now. Someone went to great lengths to plan this all out, didn't they?"

Hiei shrugged. "It doesn't matter. The end result will be the same."

"Which is?"

"They will be dead, and I will be alive."

_Hiei, of course, wouldn't take into account any of ourselves_, Kurama thought with sardonic tone, but he knew that the statement was in no way false.

"We should be searching for Botan."

"What do you think I'm doing, fox?" Hiei said sharply. "She was supposed to be your responsibility, yet I'm the first to even think of her when she gets blown around like an airborne twig."

Kurama stared at the ground, covered in dead grass that was preparing for the winter. The tinge of guilt that crept onto his features was something that he could not prevent. "You're right. Let's not dwell on it. As long as that wall is up, there's no way we can get to Yusuke and Kuwabara. We'll have to do what we can until then."

Hiei silently agreed and set off in an ill-tempered hunt.

They found her some time later; she was out cold in the field, shrouded by tall beige grain plants. It was undoubtedly the plants' fault that Botan was so hard to find, as they sheilded her from all directions. Truth be told, she was found by accident when Kurama nearly tripped over her.

She was laying face up, blue hair out of its normal ponytail and fanning out behind her. She had been sporting a nice looking bruise on her elbow, but there were no injuries more serious than that.

The two others crouched around her, plotting out their next move while waiting for her to wake.

Four hours later, Botan was awake, and they still had made no headway. Hiei perched on a rock, watching the sun gradually sink down in the sky. It was now late afternoon, bordering on evening. Kurama sat cross-legged in front of an unsure-looking Botan, desperately asking her questions about the situation.

"Okay, so replay to me exactly what happened when you came here."

"Um… Koenma tried to watch you from his television, and that didn't work, because it couldn't go through to the Demon World. And then the communicator didn't work, either, so I tried the portal. The portal worked."

"Yes, yes. But _why_?"

Botan tapped a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Err…"

"She can't remember anything, Kurama. I wouldn't try."

"Hiei, please," Kurama reprimanded while Botan glared at him. He patted her on the leg. "Calm down and just tell me what you can recall."

"Well, Koenma was saying something about like… A density between the worlds. For instance, whoever has this power to block things out can increase and decrease the density between them, and can therefore say what can go through and what can't. And obviously, they let me through. But now they're not letting me back."

"Well, it would make sense, but it would help if it wasn't secondhand information."

Botan poked at the ground helplessly.

Kurama looked over at Hiei. "I'm guessing your Jagan is still not working?"

Hiei grunted and continued to stare at… whatever he was staring at.

Kurama's frown increased. "Fantastic situation. They're going for the divide and conquer tactic, so we should be seeing whoever it is that's after us soon."

"Doubt it," Hiei spoke up.

"Why's that?"

"You forget the spirit energy. The downside to their filling the air with energy is that they themselves cannot find us. They'll have to physically come down here in order to get our location."

"So what are they hoping to accomplish?" Botan inquired.

"Most likely just to get us separated," Kurama answered. "And knowing those two, we probably will be in no time."

"Oh." Botan stewed in her own uselessness. She didn't get it, nor could she do anything to help. "So, should we be going back for Yusuke and Kuwabara now?"

Kurama shook his head. "The wall's still up. It can't be up for very much longer, and maybe we'll go back for them then. But right now, we should just worry about laying low until that time. We should all be together when the enemy attacks."

"Right." Botan looked at the light-wall. "Well, this is gonna be boring."

Hiei looked down at her with some degree of contempt. "Just try not to get blown away again."

Botan seethed.


	4. First Appearance of Civility and Enemies

A/N- Man oh man chapter three _already_? Time sure flies. If you didn't get your fair share of HB interaction the last three installments, you are up for a full chapter of it today. Fluff and irritable goodness. Perhaps Hiei is out of character in this one, since he's talking so much...?

Hope you enjoy, and I hope even more that you'll review.

* * *

**Chapter 3- First Appearance of Civility and Enemies**

The pressure in the atmosphere was gradually lessening. Hiei tried to shove the knowledge that it was about to snow to the back of his mind, unconsciously raising his own body heat at the same time. Perhaps it would feel a bit less cold, then.

Botan, that ever-determined spirit, sat in the grass in front of him (_he_ was sitting on a boulder), dutifully keeping watch over the light barrier, ready to announce it when it disappeared. Whether or not she was _really_ watching though, was up for speculation. Anyone who could train their attention on one unmoving object for hours on end couldn't be human. And Hiei was positive she was.

"I wish that stupid light would go away," Botan said, gesturing towards the wall of light. "It's ruining the sunset."

Hiei blinked. Was she talking to him? Kurama? Kurama was over there. Couldn't be Kurama. So it _was_ him, wasn't it? He looked at the back of her head, where blue hair whipped in the wind violently as the girl struggled to tame it. Talking to him? Really?

After debating that very subject, he debated with himself to respond or not. He could very easily ignore the girl; it sounded like a rhetorical statement anyway. Then again, he had been on a roll with the witty comebacks that day and it couldn't hurt to continue.

"If you have enough time to admire scenery, you have enough time to practice being useful," He said smoothly, but found himself looking at the 'ruined sunset' anyway. It was true, he supposed. The spirit energy cancelled out any colors the sunset might think to throw out.

"I can't believe you're the one who found me." Botan didn't even bother turning to look at him. "You can be so difficult."

"I wasn't the one who found you." Even Hiei has to defend his pride, you see. "I just looked for you first. Kurama was the one who tripped over you." Hiei addressed the redhead. "That was very graceful, by the way."

Kurama made a face, but continued to do whatever it was he was doing with some plants. Stupid plants. They should be leaving and beating the shit out of people, not playing with plants.

"So then, oh mighty and bloodthirsty Hiei, why did you even look for me first?" Botan did look at him this time, daring him to be nasty one more time. She'd learned a thing or two from Keiko about slapping over the summer.

"Honor code."

"Oh." She almost sounded disappointed. "Right. Honor code."

Five minutes later, she spoke again. "So you never responded to my original question."

"It wasn't a question."

She chuckled to herself a little bit.

Hiei frowns. _She's laughing! She must be a simpleton or something. _He almost asks her why.

"I guess you're right, Hiei. Nothing gets past you." Hiei opened his mouth to snap back at her, but was interrupted. "I guess that's why you're such a thoughtful person."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hiei might as well have been shooting lasers from his eyes, judging from the grade of the glare he was sending at the back of her head.

"It's not like you, Hiei, to be offended by a compliment." Kurama stood up. "I think the wall is disappearing. The volume of it is diminishing."

"Oh!" Botan joined him to get a better look. "I didn't notice that!"

Hiei also got up on the boulder, hand on sheath. "So we can get this over with?"

"No, not yet. I will go and investigate." Kurama gave Hiei a stern look. "I doubt you'll do a good job watching over Botan, but I do know that you'll do anything to prove me wrong. So do it, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can after I find Yusuke and Kuwabara."

Hiei scowled. There is no reason Kurama could do a better job looking for them than he could.

Kurama seemed to read his mind. "There's not much difference between us stealth-wise, but I can track things down much easily than you can right now, so I can find you again afterwards."

"Are you implying that I rely only upon my Jagan to get things done?"

"Really, Hiei, you are too easily crossed. I was only assessing the situation."

Hiei crossed his arms in a huff, and Kurama did not fail to point out that he resembled a child.

"And you resemble an idiot." The witty comeback streak was at a close. He was losing his touch now.

Kurama only smiled and left it at that, walking towards the dwindling spirit energy that resembled a candle at its last second.

"Hiei?" Botan asked after the redhead left. "What're we gonna do now?"

"We're going to shut up."

Botan would have none of _that_. "Hiei, you have to be more sociable."

He didn't respond. Botan decided he must be determined to follow out his plan of shutting up.

"Well, I'm going to make you talk, Hiei."

He gave her a _look_.

"It's my new goal."

"You should have stuck to the old one."

Botan grinned. Hiei frowned. "Well, I guess I fulfilled my goal already. You spoke." She gazed at his pissy face with some sneaky pride. "You're not so bad if someone gets you talking. I keep trying to tell Kuwabara that, but he won't listen." She paused. "You know, it doesn't help my case that you always insult him."

"All three of us wouldn't have that problem if he wasn't so utterly dense."

"You and I both know that he's not so bad. He's a good fighter and a good man."

"You call losing all the time a good fighter?"

"It's not _all the time_. You're exaggerating."

"Name one important battle he won."

"That one time against Bui."

Hiei just glared at her. Not that he hadn't been doing so the whole time, he just did it more intensely now.

"Well, Hiei? Still want to prove a point?"

"He's not as strong as the rest of us."

Botan smiled. "But he's still really strong. Not all humans could stand up to a demon and live."

Hiei had to give her credit for that one.

"Really, I think what you all do is pretty amazing."

Hiei averted his gaze.

"I only wish that I could make as much of a difference as the four of you."

The apparition continued to glower at the lake. Something about that damn lake was just really, really offensive right now.

"Hiei? I always kind of thought you were violent. But then you had a sister, and your secret about your sister, and I realized that you were a lot nobler than I had first realized. I think that's when I stopped being so much afraid of you, was when I found out about that. You're really nice."

_God-damn lake_, Hiei thought.

"Well, I can tell you're not used to getting compliments," Botan said, gravely serious. "I need to teach you how to receive them with grace. It is my new _new_ goal." Hiei opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. "Nothing is impossible, after all."

Hiei stepped off the boulder he had been sitting and standing on for a while now. "It's time to leave."

Botan frowned, obviously confused as to his intentions. "Why? Aren't we supposed to wait for Kurama?"

"He left me here with _you_ while he went off to do who knows what. He deserves to have to look for us."

It was Botan's turn to shoot him a nasty look. "Apparently I have to teach you to give compliments as well."

* * *

Botan had to fight to keep up with him. "Hiei, do you always power walk?" 

Hiei didn't know what 'power walking' was, and he didn't ask.

"Where are we even going?"

"We're going to find the sorry asses I'm supposed to kick."

"Hiei! You can't do that without everyone else!" Botan shook a finger at him, scolding as a mother would. "Besides, don't you care about my safety?"

He made a dismissive noise, but made an elaborate show of slowing down so she could keep up.

"I mean, what would you do if I got hurt?"

"You won't," He assured- no, by the tone of his voice, he _informed_ her.

"How do you know?" She demanded, and added a small 'thank-you' for his slowing down.

"If you are quiet and stay out of the way, nothing will happen to you." He put his hands in his pockets. "I think it's quite obvious you are a non-fighter, and if they have any wits about them, they will know that I am the one they will have to deal with."

"But what happens if _you_ get hurt? What'll happen to me then?"

"I won't get hurt."

_He certainly is conceited, isn't he?_ Botan stared at him with disbelief. _Conceited and_ _blunt._

…_And maybe a little bit crazy._

"Hiei, I really think we shouldn't be running around looking for the bad guy, when they're supposed to be pretty strong. I mean, I looked at the files and everything-"

"How strong?"

Botan blinked. "What?"

"How. Strong. Are they?" Hiei made sure to use the same tone he used with Kuwabara on rare occasions.

"A high class B…"

"And what class am I?"

"A?"

"Just be quiet and don't endanger yourself." Hiei flicked his eyes in her direction to make sure she got the message, and then back at his path.

He'd be damned if _Kurama_, of all people (demons, too?) condemned him from fighting.

"You can't order me around!"

"I can when I'm the only thing standing in between you and demons who would do anything to scratch the eyes out of one of Koenma's people."

Botan fought the inexplicable, yet _incredibly strong_ urge to stick her tongue out at him.

"It shouldn't be too long until they try to seek us out."

"Why's that?"

"Because I can use the Jagan again."

Botan's face brightened at a shockingly fast rate. "Really? Then we can go back and find every-"

A foreign-sounding voice cut in, all effimate flowers and cheerfulness. "It seems you've been looking for us."

Botan walked directly into Hiei when he stopped walking. "Ow…"

Hiei assessed the girl perched on one of the branches of a tree. Despite her willowy figure, she looked to be strong enough to be the one he was after. Hers wasn't the spirit energy the wall was made out of (she didn't have enough of it) but he knew she'd be formidable at the least.

But the fact that she was dressed like one of those 'Native Americans' he always heard humans go on about was somewhat strange. Then again, Hiei wasn't one to make fashion critiques.

"You remember what I told you to do, don't you, woman?" He looked at Botan sideways, and when she nodded, he looked back at his soon-to-be opponent.

The girl brushed aside some of her dark hair and grinned. "My name is Peichan. My specialty is the bow and arrow and hand-to-hand combat. I will be your enemy for this upcoming battle." Her accent lilted a little when she spoke. "I hope you will prove capable."

"And I am wondering if you'll even be able to keep up," Hiei told her, absolutely _none_ of his egoist personality showing through. Of course. And this is definitely not sarcasm. Hiei has never had an ego.

Botan knew for sure that the fight was tipped largely in Hiei's favor, but that didn't mean she would stick around for it. Just because Hiei was known to kill quickly and cleanly did not mean he wasn't capable of being really really messy. And she thought she could sense that he was not having a good day, and was feeling delightfully violent.

However, before she slipped into the shadows, the girl called Peichan got a little less pretty as she sprouted several horns on the crown of her forehead. Aqua colored scales formed on the sides of her head, near the temples, and also on her shoulders and ankles. And with this girl's more demonic form, her power rose a couple of notches. Botan watched with apprehension as Hiei seemed to be getting happier with the situation.

"Hiei!" Botan called with a stringent voice. "Make sure you finish this quickly, and don't you dare get hurt!" She bit back a 'and wipe that smirk off your face'.

He merely looked at her with that same look he had been giving her all afternoon. The kind that said 'Can you even hear what nonesense you're spouting? Please, listen to yourself'.

She smiled and ran haphazardly south, through the forest. A silent promise is still a promise. He'd find her later, perfectly safe.


	5. In Which an Omen is Sent

A/N- I'm starting to like this story a whole lot more the further I get into it. I love writing conversations for these two; they practically write it for themselves. Really, they are both just so snarky. And I had lots of inspiration in this chapter.

I had a major typo last chapter. When I wrote about Kuwabara and his battles, I said 'Bui'. :( It wasn't Bui. It was Byakko. They're both 'B' names, so you can forgive me, right? Uhm. Sorry?

By the way, I am thinking of taking back my declaration that this story is going to be action-y. I don't think I'm cut out to write in-depth action scenes, and I know that you guys probably don't care any which way. Just know that in the next few chapters, there's going to be a lot of shit goin' down. It'll be fun, promise. :D (P.S. Reviews are lovely and I'm lacking)

* * *

**Chapter 4- In Which an Omen is Sent**

The sky was already dark when Hiei finished. Or rather- he didn't have the chance to finish.

_Bloody sword, heavy breathing—a nightmarish situation by anyone's standards but his own._

He needed to find that girl. Just where had she got off to?

_Sheets of sweat amplified cold wind and almost made him shiver. His opponent, opposite, seemed to take away no effect._

He had her pinpointed; the Jagan never failed to disappoint. And yet, that girl was as elusive as a small insect.

_She had been worse off; her body displayed many cuts, bruises, and scratches resulting from crashing through brambles. Hiei was frustrated with his inability to land as many hits as he would have liked, and frustrated with his inability to figure out what she was doing to evade his attacks._

Perhaps his sense of direction was waning. Hiei told himself this, although knowing that it was in no way true. He also told himself to quit this anxious feeling of _What if I don't find her? What then? _Panic, even that minimal, was not something to which he was accustomed.

_He finally understood that the enemy was not using speed to avoid a neat stab here or a flash of fire there, but a primitive form of hypnotism. He smiled, then, when he grasped at the concept. His opponent's expression did not change, however badly off she was._

Hiei leapt from tree to tree, eyes taking in every detail, ears taking in every sound, carefully blocking out those that were his own and the wind's. That woman would be the death of him someday. Quite literally.

_His sword whistled through the air towards the woman's head. She seemed to duck at the last minute, moments before collision. There it was. Hiei grinned and pulled the blade violently downwards, making a turn so sharp and clean that the cut would be equally as such._

Through the bare branches overhead, he saw, with growing displeasure, the darkening of the clouds. He had to get out of here by morning. That meant swallowing his shame over losing his enemy, and losing the girl. _Botan, not girl. _He turned his gaze from the barren canopy above to the crunchy leaves of the forest floor, scanning the area with an urgency he was not used to.

_The girl moved once more, to the right, and he knew that he had only cut the after-image. The words he had said then went along the lines of knowing her battle secret, but she had responded with a more jeering tone than was appropriate for her position. _

"_I know a secret about you that you don't even know yet." _

_He had, at that very moment, pushed the cold steel into her side, catching both her and himself off-guard. He hadn't been truly aiming for her then, only meaning to keep her running. This was the reason for the shallow wound. The slice didn't even break her ribs._

At the time, Hiei had shoved her implication in the back of his mind, and it still remained there, but he knew that it would come back up as a tormenting subject in the near future. It would be ready to test his curiosity, to tantalize his patience to see just how far he would go in his race to find out what the secret was.

"Hiei!"

The apparition nearly broke his neck looking back over his shoulder to the origin of the voice.

_He yanked his weapon out of her side as she fell to the floor, placing one foot on her hip as leverage. It came free in a gruesome spray of dark red blood that would be fitting for any horror movie. He didn't waste one more look at her and activated his third eye, ready to search. _

"Hiei!" She shouted again, as if she hadn't thought he would hear her first ear-shattering call. She was curled up against the trunk of a particularly large and gnarled tree, with a diameter bigger than she was tall. The roots spread out like long spidery fingers and created craters of woody material and pools of still water. Botan had found a small cove in the grandfatherly tree and took up residence there to avoid the bone-biting winter chills.

_He had been walking away from the fallen warrior quickly, with every intention to leave, but was just as swiftly halted. She stood up slowly, smiling, although he would have no way of knowing about her amusement. He did not turn to look at her. One of her hands held her side, now completely stained red with her own blood. _

"_There is always tomorrow, Hiei-chan. And you certainly shouldn't waste your time fighting me when you should be searching for your woman."_

_And he let her go. He wasn't entirely sure what possessed him when he did that; but he was certain that it was the strange words whispered to him by that same winter breath sweeping through the area that distracted him. He didn't know if the wounded person had also heard._

'_These woods are lovely, dark and deep.'_

He looked down at Botan in her little nook and the words seemed to come crashing around him like a déjà vu.

"Hiei?" She saw him now, and stopped yelling his name.

Falling from the tree, he landed in front of her gracefully, and, rather ungracefully, glared at her. "You better not have hurt yourself."

She couldn't hide a smile, and held two fingers in a salute. "It was against your orders, sir."

Hiei eyed her suspiciously.

"You didn't get hurt either, did you?" Botan stood up next to him and checked him with mock-sincerity. "It took you a while to finish."

Hiei wrenched his arm out of her grasp. "It took a while to _find_ you."

Botan grinned proudly. "I was trying hard not to be found, that's why."

"Try a little less hard next time."

Botan couldn't pass the chance up. "Aw, are you sad that you couldn't find me right away?"

Hiei had a bad taste in his mouth. "I just don't want to waste my time hunting for some useless woman."

Botan was affronted. "I most certainly am not useless!"

"Don't fool yourself."

The blue haired ferry girl placed her hands on her hips, opening her mouth to interject—only pausing to wonder _Since when am I not afraid of him?_—when her ears pricked at a scuffling noise in the far off corner of the clearing. A squeak escaped from her gaped mouth rather than a rebuttal.

"Well, I'm impressed that even your human ears could pick that up." Hiei told her, not even aware that it was half an insult.

Botan watched with wariness as her companion walked over to the suspiciously rustling bush and kicked it. _Hard_. A yelp, another rustle, and a small forest creature jumped out of it in alarm and scurried over the massive roots and into the shadow that was the rest of the forest.

"…Oh."

Hiei's face displayed a look of sheer amusement. Silence reigned for a few more minutes as Hiei snickered quietly and Botan felt sheepish.

"Hiei?"

He grunted in response. No surprise there.

"Is it going to snow soon?"

Now _that_ was a surprise to him. He observed her with widened eyes, the only sign of his internal shock. "Yes. Probably noontime tomorrow."

Botan sighed and squatted in her tree-cranny. "Okay." And then, "Hey Hiei?"

He sat on a root and mentally rolled his eyes. What now?

"That was really nice of you."

"I wonder at your definition of 'nice'."

Botan blinked. Oh yeah. "Well, nice for you. It was nice for you, I guess. Common courtesy if it were Kuwabara or Yusuke, I suppose."

"Get some sleep, woman." _Botan_, his mind scolded him.

She nodded. What time was it, anyway? Certainly too late. "What'll we do tomorrow?"

"Find Kurama. He'll probably have those two with him by the time we meet up, if nothing splits them up further."

"Oh." She really should have inferred that, she knows. "Hiei," She says his name one more time.

"What is it?"

"Take care of yourself."

"_What?_"

"You're also an asshole."

A small smile struggled over dominance of his face, conflicting with a frown at her previous order.

* * *

Botan woke to find Hiei sitting in extremely close proximity, almost shockingly close (she is rarely ever within three feet of the guy), perched on a root. She stared as she waited for him to acknowledge her consciousness, and saw that the Jagan eye was open and on the rove. Because of his concentration, he really didn't notice his immediate surroundings. 

_The look on his face is kind of… peaceful_. Botan sat up to get a better look. _It's almost like he's asleep. _

Her breath came in a constant shivering moment, with clouds of mist hovering in front of her face. An involuntary tremor ran down her spine, and she dared scooch a little closer. Had he even slept last night at all? Her expression became pensive and almost comically serious. _This is Hiei,_ she told herself. _He's very dangerous. He may even have a danger label on him somewhere. You probably shouldn't be doing this._

Childlike. He was childlike. In retrospective, it was the propelling force of many of the situations he got himself in. Botan backed off after assessing his face. Which sounded weird, but it really wasn't, because she hadn't ever really gotten a good look, had she? And, when she really thought about it, this was the longest she had ever been with him alone. It had been hours, and he had done an admirable job at keeping her safe. She hated to admit it, too, but if it had been Yusuke or Kuwabara, they most likely would have kept her close during a fight, putting her in danger. They weren't the types to think of the consequences, they only would have known that they didn't want to lose her.

Hiei thought logically. He understands cause and effect, can weigh the proportions of good and bad, and can almost predict the future. _That,_ Botan knew, i_s why he is still alive today. _

Hiei opened one eye and peered down at her with a scowl.

Botan thanked whatever god was watching over her that she had returned to her spot moments before he woke up from his trance.

"You're awake."

Botan felt a bit like Yusuke when she debated whether or not to snap, 'thanks, Captain Obvious'.

When she didn't immediately say something, Hiei exhaled loudly. "It took you long enough."

Botan looked at the sky. It wasn't that late, was it? No, it had to be early! Because although the snow-clouds were blocking out most of the sun, there wasn't that much light poking through. It wasn't enough to be late.

"It doesn't matter, really. Kurama still hasn't found those two idiots, and he is now searching for us." Hiei clambered to his feet and stretched like a cat. "He suggested that we meet him halfway. I'm wondering if I'll take him up on that."

"Where are Yusuke and Kuwabara?"

"They're at a port on the other side of the island. They, too, met a member of the enemy, only to have them get up and leave after a proper beating."

Botan was shocked. "You_ lost_?"

Hiei shot her a look that could kill. "I most certainly did _not_ lose. I pushed her towards the last inch of her life, and I expected her to lay there and die like a true minion would, but she just got up and left."

"And you _let_ her go?"

Hiei was beginning to rethink his action of telling her what had happened. "She won't be fighting any time soon, I can promise you that. I was… distracted."

"With what?" Botan demanded.

_The wind._ "I was already looking for you when she left."

Botan's face fell from disbelieving anger to guilt. If Hiei had been watching, the speed at which her features changed would have been shocking. "Oh. Sorry."

_Well, it's half true_, Hiei reasoned with himself. He _did_ have the Jagan open when the girl decided to show that she wasn't really five-sixths dead.

Hiei dismissed her regret with a wave of his hand, before that specific hand came to rest on the hilt of his sword. "We're going to meet the fox due east. He said he found something interesting, and refused to divulge information."

Botan thought it eerie how Hiei had just had an entire conversation with someone as if he were channeling cell phone waves. "When will we leave?"

"Now," Hiei replied, and, strangely enough, offered her a hand to hoist herself up with. "I plan on arriving long before he does."

"Is this your version of ill-planned revenge? Besting him at things?"

Hiei glared at her. "Of course."


	6. Spider Writhing in Lady Fate's Palm

A/N: Hallooo. This one has a bit of dialogue in it, and some nice plot bits. At the same time, there are some nice n' fluffy HB bits. Yes shoot me plz. Um. Next chapter, things really start getting nasty. We're at the halfway mark, and almost at the climax or whatever you want to call it.

By the way, thank you all for your lovely reviews. I feel so inspired/flattered. :D

(1) The spider thing is an actual historical tidbit, one I learned from reading The Tale of Gengi, one of the first novels in existance in the world, written by Lady Murasaki, a lady-in-waiting for the Royal Family. The book was completed in the 11th century. The spider superstition was essentially the belief that omens could be and were drawn from the behavior of spiders, resulting in a line from an old and famous poem of the time. The line of the poem reads: "I know that tonight my lover will come to me/The spider's antics prove it clearly"

I thought this was cute and tried to work it into "Ianii's Make Believe History of Makai" in a way that makes sense.

* * *

**Chapter 5- Spider Writhing in Lady Fate's Palm**

Hiei walked in front of her, several yards ahead, and always at a pace Botan wasn't quite in shape for. She soon found herself out of breath. Almost immediately, her body called for reparation, and she brought herself around to a slow and leisurely speed she was comfortable with.

Normally Botan would have agonized over what exactly her companion would think, but this time around she did not have half so many qualms. She was surprised, and just as much pleased, when she discovered that every time she lost sight of her guide, she would turn the next corner or tree and there he would be. And every time she caught up, he would hurry on, as quick footed as before. And she would lose sight of him. And find him. And lose sight of him…

Needless to say, both were quite peeved about the situation, but neither voiced opinions on the subject.

"Hiei?" Botan skipped a few feet to get within his earshot. "Hiei, I didn't know this island had a forest this big. How old is it?"

"Hn." Hiei shrugged his shoulders. "You were running around half of it last night."

"Hey! I was running away! I can't be held accountable for noticing the scenery of gigantic woods if I'm trying to save my life!"

Hiei stated as if quoting scripture: "'Never over-estimated the human species' poor eyesight.'"

"Hurrumph." Botan crossed her arms over her chest. "These conversations with you are getting predictable."

"I'm not the one who makes them predictable."

"Is that so?"

"I don't have any reason to lie."

"Oooh!" She inhaled deeply and pointed an accusing finger at him. "I swear, some day someone's going to-"

"Eight million years."

The Finger of Justice drooped. "What?"

"The island," Hiei said in an impatient tone, "is eight million years old."

Botan blinked. "What?"

Hiei looked back to the front of him. "I won't repeat it. If your ears couldn't pick that up, I refuse to say it one more time."

Botan, having fallen behind Hiei's determined march, hopped back up next to him. "Wait, wait, how do you know it's eight million years old?"

"If you did not believe I would know the answer, why did you ask?"

"That's not the point!" She threw her hands up in exclamation. "How do you know?"

"How do I know?" Hiei repeated the question in an unsurprisingly arrogant tone. "It is common knowledge."

Botan pursed her lips, refusing to respond until she got her answer.

_But that's just as well_, Hiei thought. _A silent girl is better than a dead one_.

"The trees," Hiei said anyway, after a few moments' consideration.

"The trees? Are they really that old?"

"Most of them? No. Most of these are only about seven hundred."

"'Only', you say?"

"Most Demon World islands have been created in the past five millennia. This island, as it happens, is one of those from the classical period, before the last five millennia. Most likely the whole thing has some sort of historical value."

"So how did seven hundred year old trees tell you about this?" Botan skipped ahead a couple more feet.

"Not these trees; I found the oldest one in the heart of the forest."

"When?"

Hiei had faint traces of a cruel smile. "While you were asleep."

"_Whaaat?!_ You left me alone? Sleeping? Completely defenseless-"

Hiei cut her short by shoving one of his arms in front of her path. "Not now. Be silent."

Botan froze. Irritated as she was, she knew she was in no position to argue. And adding the fact that if Hiei was alerted to something, it was probably dangerous and therefore in her best interest to _shut the hell up by all means_.

Ten seconds passed. Thirty. A minute. Two. Hiei finally broke the marathon by speaking at a whopping two minutes thirty seconds.

"Kurama, you'll have to do better than that."

"Kurama?" Botan relaxed. "Where is he?"

Hiei turned to face her, and, with a frustratingly amused face, pointed over her shoulder. Botan stared at his finger for a moment, and one could see the gears turning in her head. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder, and yelped when she saw Kurama's face.

"That wasn't very nice, Hiei," Kurama scolded after Botan turned a shade close to but not quite the shade of her hair.

Hiei showed no sign of caring. "You were the one hanging over her shoulder."

"Hmm, I guess that's true."

"So where is this interesting thing you've found, fox?" Hiei stuffed his hands in his pockets. It couldn't be eight o'clock, but the wind was already picking up. The 'snowing' he had predicted would be a full-blown blizzard.

"Yes," Kurama confirmed. "It's just over the hill there. I assume you're acquainted with the geography of the island."

"No," Botan perked up. "But Hiei was just explaining how old it was to me."

"Was he?" Kurama raised a brow and eyed them both. "And what did he say?"

"Eight million," Said the spoken-of apparition. "And what were your calculations?"

Kurama smiled. It looked kindly enough, but both Hiei and Botan had seen enough of those to know it was not the case, that there was, of course, a secret malicious intent. "I got seven million."

Hiei frowned.

Botan spoke up, interrupting certain competition. "What about the geography, Kurama?"

"Oh." Kurama shifted gears. "Yes. While examining a map of Hilali Island, I have come across some interesting aspects of it. The island itself is a volcanic one, meaning the whole of it should mostly be a mountain. Not only that, but very few plants and trees should be able to survive the vast amounts of sulfur in the earth."

"Are you saying that they are?" Botan still sat on the floor. She was starting not to care if her outfit got messed up or dirty. She was exhausted.

"Well, two things are contradicting these general rules. Yes, most of the island is a mountain, but there are, curiously enough, several plots of flatland, and there is even a lake. One of these flat lands," Kurama pointed over the hill he spoke of earlier. "Is over there."

"And what of the plants?" This time Hiei posed the question.

"That brings me to my next point. Botan?"

"Yes?" She responded, but seemed preoccupied by something else entirely.

"Does the relic buried here on the island have a fertility charm placed on it?"

"Yeah."

Kurama smiled that Malicious-Intent smile again. "That's why you got eight million, Hiei. The fertility charm caused the trees to grow at twice the normal rate."

Botan didn't leave Hiei enough room to speak. "Hey, Guys? This spider is freaking out."

Hiei was almost-paralyzed. "What… Did you say?"

Botan looked at Hiei with mild surprise. "The spider. It's freaking out." She was somewhat sure Hiei knew what 'freaking out' meant. She held it up in her hand, and there it was: A dark black spider that looked like it was having something similar to a seizure.

Hiei's eyes grew big and round. "…Put it down."

"Uh. Why?" Botan was perplexed. Really, anyone would be.

"_Just do it right now._"

She bent to place it carefully on a rock. "Okay, okay, just calm down. I'm doing it." She stepped back and Hiei immediately took her place.

"Uh, Kurama?" She sought an explanation.

The redhead took the stage as was necessary for him. "You know that for around one thousand to two thousand years the Demon World has been massively influenced by human Japanese culture, right?"

"Yeah, ever since they figured out how to get there."

"Well, during around the turn of the second millennia, there was a superstition aroused among the Japanese people that the behavior of a spider sent omens and predicted the future. It seems that that superstition, or belief, rather, has been carried on well into Hiei's generation." (1)

Botan 'ahhh'ed understandingly. Then, "Hiei, I would never have thought you were superstitious!"

"I'm not," he replied. "I merely don't question those signals sent us."

The sides of Botan's mouth threatened to curve upwards.

"Is there something humorous, woman?"

"No, no, of course not." Giggle snort.

Hiei tore his eyes off the strangely-behaving spider to glare at her.

She continued to giggle. "Sorry, sorry. Truly, I am."

"Er, shall we go?" Kurama immediately recognized the aura of a pissed off Hiei.

"Yeah, okay."

"Hiei, are you coming?"

He spared one more glance at his fortune teller, then started to follow.

"So what was the verdict, Hiei?" Botan said civilly.

Hiei didn't know what a verdict was and therefore did not pay attention.

"What did the spider tell you, I mean."

"Nothing," he snapped, "That you would care to hear."

"How do you tell? Is there some sort of method?"

"No. Go speak of nonsense to Kurama. I'm sure he would completely understand."

"You are in a sour mood, Hiei," Kurama observed. "I can't imagine it's my fault?"

"You need to get a better imagination."

"You certainly let me down, Hiei. I thought you would have done a better job taking care of Botan if you were put to the challenge, but you're just brushing her off."

Botan watched the exchange with interest. This was how the moody demon interacted with his best friend. But he was far too defensive, wasn't he? Kurama needed to be less accusatory. Hiei needed to go more on the offense, like he had up till now.

Sergeant Inner Botan was ready for action.

"Kurama," She said seriously. "I'll have you know Hiei did an excellent job protecting me, even if he did leave me alone in the woods completely unaware of what was going on…" Here she realized that her argument was going to hell. "But he did well nevertheless, as well as can be expected, and he deserves to be awarded with the proper respect."

The expression on Kurama's face was clearly one which said _Are you controlling her mind, Hiei? Did you perhaps drug her?_

Botan's face turned five shades of red when the end of her speech was met with awkward and stunned silence.

"Don't be foolish," Hiei said stiffly after some time. "I was only doing what was asked of me."

He stalked off in the direction they had been walking, in a very bad, very angry, _never embarrassed_ mood.

Kurama looked at Botan.

Botan looked at her feet. "Well I thought it was a very enlightening experience," She mumbled to the dirt and leaves.

"Any amount of time is sure to be enlightening when spent with Hiei," Kurama said in an attempt to be comforting. "He has a very… interesting outlook on life." He guided her shoulder to the path Hiei was making. "But we should be going now, and we should probably try not to lose him."

"Right!"

They trudged through the fall leaves. Kurama with leisure, Botan with fervor, and Hiei with newfound purpose: to leave these idiots behind him.

"I think the forest is ending," Botan said after about fifteen minutes, because the dark and brooding entity leading the way had pulled to a halt. She squinted past him into the light. "Is that a building?"

"Almost."

"Almost? Is it being built?"

Kurama shook his head and stepped next to his short friend. "It's being destroyed."

In front of them stood a vast field of ruins, ancient sunbathed buildings that were host to a variety of species of plants. Pottery, statues, and other articles of interest lay shattered and broken on the floor and in empty window spaces, reminders of a lost society long ago conquered by some unknown foe, and then by the vines that grew there. Broken walls and bricks littered the area, a suggestion of violence among the otherwise beautiful architecture that was unsalvageable.

"This is the place that they are aiming to gain?" Hiei surveyed the destruction while at the same time being acutely aware of the silence the girl next to him was displaying. _How uncharacteristic._

"Yes. This is most likely the same area the relic with the fertility charm was buried." Kurama gestured towards the vines. "The vegetation is destroying the city that once lay here. However, I believe it originally fell as the result of a siege. It used to be a center of both commerce and art."

"The souls," Botan whispered quietly.

Hiei looked at her curiously out of the corner of his eye.

"They are restless. They are still here, and they are crying out." Her eyes were blank, staring at things on she could see. "A brutal massacre. They wish to be avenged."

Solemn silence reigned and a spider crawled out of Botan's sleeve, creeping up her kimono to rest on her shoulder.


	7. Definition of Bravery

A/N- So this one took a while. I was frustrated with this story because I knew that I wasn't writing quite as well as I usually(?) do. And sometimes I go through fits of high standards. I don't recommend them; you can never get anything done. So then I finished it, and then wouldn't let me upload it. They haven't been sending e-mails, either. Poor You need a band-aid. I hope you get better soon.

Anyway, the second title for this chapter is 'Hiei is a Bitch', but I felt it was inappropriate and switched over. Enjoy.

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**Chapter 6- Definition of Bravery**

Botan sat on the edge of a wall in the center of the broken town. She hugged her knees close to her chest, heels planter firmly on the corner to keep her from falling off. She shivered. Mayer it wasn't great weather to be sitting out in the open with only a kimono on, no matter how thick and warm it used to feel. Whatever it was, Botan stomached it, because it was better than being down _there_. She didn't want to risk the spirits coming back. She had only just gotten them to leave.

Hiei and Kurama were unaffected. _They_ couldn't see them. _They_ did not have the ability to hear the crying children or look helplessly upon the zombie-like adults. Kurama had no idea that a mother of two was looking over his shoulder as he lifted a cracked vase to examine it, ever the anthropologist. Hiei would probably freak out (much like the incident with the spider earlier, Botan thought with a twinge of humor) if she told him that his training had had an audience of awe-struck children, with a few of them even mimicking the techniques with phantom sticks.

But she had gotten them to leave, finally. Most of them. A few of the stubborn ones remained, going about their eternal everyday lives as if their homes weren't ruined, their special places never plundered. It was these spirits that were oblivious to their fate, never noticing how they didn't age, never feeling the pain as if their brains blocked it all out. The ones who left would come back, but not until later. Not until, hopefully, she was gone.

Botan peered over her feet at the dirt ground far below, and a few particles of the wall crumbled and fell. She made a considering noise and frowned. She lost Kurama. This was no good. She'd intended to follow after him quietly, let him do his thing, but to have him close in case something dangerous happened (Hiei proved to be too hostile an entity, so Kurama it was) but instead she let her mind wander off and she could no longer see him.

She tipped backwards onto the flat surface and detached herself from the edge to climb down over bricks and other such things. She could hear clashing noises from her right if she listened hard enough, and identified it as Hiei. As she padded in that direction, she reasoned with herself that she was going there because he was easier to locate than Kurama was.

Hiei couldn't shake that damn feeling that someone was watching him, even when he proved to himself that it was impossible. Oh well. No real matter. Just a feeling. And feelings were useless anyway, right? …Right?

He felt his muscles coil and spring at every stroke, flourish and spin, one two one two. The sword glinted off light that managed to peek its way through the clouds. He continued his steel dance without the use of his eyes, chopping imaginary foes to bits as well as the occasional vine or stone sitting about the ruins.

That girl, that Botan, she has emotion, hasn't she? So was it pointless? He tried to imagine her without it, and admitted to no one that the girl should keep her emotion. She simply would not be able to survive. Certainly not. If Botan were emotionless, she couldn't give some sad kind of cute face to get her way.

And then Hiei nearly cut himself.

Regaining his footing, he decided to call it a day. He drew up his sword and wiped the blade clean of gravel and plant juice on his shirt. He could see his breath on the air. Taking this moment to check, he sensed Kuwabara and Yusuke's journey was going well, and they were only about thirty miles away. They could all meet in the middle, and the 'showdown', so to speak, would be approaching soon.

Hiei kicked a rusty suit of armor of the floor and sat down next to it. Probably was used in the final hour of destruction or battle of the city, because there were still one or two bones inside the shell that animals hadn't carried off yet. Upon further inspection, the bones possessed many scratches and cuts, as if from a serrated knife. Nearby, there was a sheath made of old, frail leather that held a rusty dagger. He lifted it out carefully to minimize damage, until he was interrupted by a small noise across the way. Spotting the blue-haired ferry girl, he relaxed once more and returned his gaze to the artifact in his hands.

"Uh, hi," She said with an awkward air, now seeing that he knew she was there. She had been standing on the edge of the walls for a while now, watching his steel waltz subside into a vague curiosity in the midst of resting. All that may sound very poetic, and it was, up until the part where he violently kicked the suit of armor like a tin can.

Botan, when she received no response, leaned against one of the clay dwellings in an attempt to act casual. The wall made a crumbling noise, and she yelped and jumped away.

Hiei almost laughed.

"So, how are you?" She started over.

Hiei promptly ignored her by deciding the decayed weapon looked like it was of the throwing variety.

"Um." A more direct question, Botan thought, should probably be used in order to get a reaction out of him. But she didn't really have to.

"What do you want?" He demanded in a blunt tone, without even looking up.

"Er… Do you know where Kurama is?"

Hiei extended one arm. "About fifty yards that way. Looking at rocks."

"Oh. Thanks." Then she spotted what his interesting thing was. "Hey, what's that?"

"A knife." Simple answers are always best for Hiei. Embellishments were for pansies.

"Is it a good one?"

He shrugged as if to say 'It's okay, for a five hundred year old piece of metal'.

A wind blew by and she shivered, drawing the cloth around her with her fists. "Geez, it's cold." She didn't wait for an answer. "So, about earlier; are you ever going to tell me what that spider said?"

Hiei was frustrated. The truth was that he would have liked to answer her question, really, he would, but unfortunately for that he never had any real training in reading the antics of spiders. It was usually just general forecasts: Good or bad. This time, it was bad.

"The spider," he told her, "predicted negativity, detrimentality, and general bad things. And a lot of them."

"That's… not good," Botan concluded. "But, at least Yukina's not here, right? I mean, we might all be in mortal danger, but at least she isn't. And… She's usually the topmost of your worries and concerns, isn't she?"

"I'm not in the mood to be cross-examined or psychoanalyzed-"

"So it's okay for you. Yukina's going to be okay. You don't really care about the rest of us very much, even though I know for sure you've got a fine set of principals. So you'll be fine. Then again, I don't know if I'm ready to place my trust in an epileptic arachnid just yet, so I think we'll live. I have trust in you guys. It will definitely be okay."

"You can't know that," Hiei gritted out, irked that she kept interrupting him.

"But I do!" She ventured another few steps closer in her fit of passionate cheerleading, and also because she sensed he would finally make conversation. "There's no one stronger than you guys in the worlds, I'll bet. You'll just have to finish them off properly next time, and it'll all be good."

Hiei sat in dumbstruck silence for a while (he thought he had heard all the heroic speeches) and then his hair prickled. "There's someone here."

Botan blinked. "No," she told him, looking to his immediate left. "That's a spirit. You can't see them. He's been here for a while, that one."

"Will you get him to leave, then?" The idea of an invisible consciousness spying on him was not a pleasant one.

Botan shook her head. "I've gotten rid of the ones I could. Hundreds, actually, but there are still about ten still here."

Curiosity got the better of him. "How are you able to do that?"

"It's a spell all ferry girls learn to put uneasy ghosts to rest for a temporary amount of time. Being the best ferry girl, I can put away a good amount. It's gotten me pretty fatigued, though." She paused from both speaking and watching the spirit cowering in the corner to flash Hiei a sad smile. "That one keeps reliving the day he died, eternally. His shock is too powerful to put to rest unless it's permanently, and obviously, I can't do that right now."

Hiei, his child-like inquisitiveness infringed upon by something else, stood and dropped the knife where it clattered to the ground. Shit. Shit shit shit shit _shit_. A snowflake fluttered to the ground, starting early.

"Wow. Already?" Botan raised her candy eyes to the heavens. "I wonder if there is a room in one of these broken buildings we can stay in."

"Why don't you ask your ghosts?" Hiei had a sour taste on his tongue.

Botan shook her head. "It doesn't work that way, I'm afraid."

God _damn_. Where was Kurama? He bent to grab his katana, stood up again. "We have to go. Now."

"Wha?"

"Leaving. Now. Killing enemy, leaving, never coming back." He looked at her, a long, lingering gaze that made her arm hairs stand on end in such a way where the line between feeling good and bad was not easily drawn. "_Now_."

"Right." Botan put up an encouraging fist, ignoring the feeling. "I hope you beat those guys soon. We should get back so I can send those ghosts back. And so that Spider's Omen you got doesn't fulfill itself." She half-laughed. "I don't really want to get in the way."

"Then why did you come here?"

The question caught her off guard. "To tell you what was wrong. To warn you. I think you've figured that out by now."

"We could have deciphered that on our own."

"Well I certainly think I helped out a great deal!"

He turned a phrase back on its creator. "By getting in the way?"

Botan suddenly realized that not only was her dignity being attacked, but something nasty had just gotten into Hiei. This was the meanest he had gotten the whole trip, and to turn this way so suddenly? It didn't add up, but Botan was sure it was about to multiply in the next few seconds.

"If you hadn't been so intent on playing the hero, you wouldn't be in this situation, am I correct?"

"No…" She knew that the fact was she had come here without a second thought of the consequences.

"You are in no rational way useful. It is your own fault you're here."

"I will be useful!" Botan insisted. "I can and will!" Her face pinched in and became redder by the moment, and she was getting mad at Hiei for the first significant time. She didn't care if he was the only wall between herself and evil demon things. He was a bastard!

"You can't promise that." He smirked cruelly, that infernal expression which didn't belong where it was. "Just like you can't promise that everything will be okay."

"Ugh!" Her hands itched to connect with his face. "You know, I think all this anger and hostility is the result of your overcompensating for something you lack a lot of!" And then she immediately clapped her fingers over her mouth.

"Would you like to check?" His sneer was magnified, probably because of the insult.

Botan shook her tomato face. "I… I wouldn't have to say things like that if you weren't such a jerk."

"And I wouldn't have to say such things if you hadn't poofed here with a hero complex and death wish acquired from that idiot detective and his friend."

"You are _incorrigible_!"

"It is my hobby."

Botan muttered colorful words to herself. "This is not my weekend."

Unfortunately, Hiei heard her. "You mean you aren't normally a dolt?"

Botan only graced him with a glare. The snow had begun to fall harder, covering the cobblestones with a thin, slippery coat. It also soaked into her clothes, making her damp and cold. She trembled and brushed her eyes with her already wet sleeve. What he was saying was true, wasn't it? He certainly didn't want to bother with her plight, but was unable to say no. He was stuck with this duty and neither asked for nor wanted any part of it. She had just stumbled over here without conscious thought, and landed like a bungling idiot. But she only wanted good things, didn't she? And everything would turn out okay, right? Right.

And so she told him. With every fibre of conviction and ounce of faith in her small, snow covered frame, she told him. She promised him it would be okay. And it would be, no exceptions.

Kurama watched the argument with mounting concern. He had an innate feeling that something was bothering his friend the moment they arrived, but had never expected him to take it out on Botan, who had done nothing to deserve it. As minutes passed, he kept wanting to jump out into the clearing to heroically break up the soon-to-be fight, but something held him back. He could sense that it was important for both parties to get whatever it was out of their systems (be it anger, anxiety, sexual frustration or otherwise). Then he noticed the snow, the tears in Botan's eyes. It was probably time, then. Hiei had finally gone too far. He stood up from his crouching, hidden position and stopped for a second to watch the latest development.

Botan had turned to leave; Hiei threw a knife at her (it looked old, as if it were found at this site) and she jumped, startled, and it clattered at her feet.

"If you don't want to be useless, learn how to take care of yourself."

She knelt to pick it up, slowly, and allowed one idle look to land on him before trotting through the rubble and disappearing in the flurries.

Kurama let himself be seen by his friend, then walked closer.

"What do you want?" Hiei snapped, wiped his sword clean for the millionth (completely pointless) time. He felt dirty, not pure. The cloth of his shirt swept over the blade once more. The action did not go unnoticed.

"You already know what I am here for, Hiei. That much should be blatantly apparent."

"I do not know," He said testily. " And I think I will be leaving now."

Kurama caught his wrist and twisted it in a way that would be painful for any other person. "What is bothering you so much, Hiei, that you do not deign to be pleasant or even understanding of other people? She only had the best intentions and you know it."

"'Only had the best intentions', you say," Hiei retorted. "What she _has_ is too many emotions."

Kurama, now satisfied that Hiei would not leave and also that he would be willing to speak, let go of his hand. "Now is not the time to be jealous of others' happiness." Kurama already knew what would result of that last statement.

"_Jealous?!_" Aghast, the little fire demon opened and closed his mouth, much like a fish. "Say that again, fox."

"Botan is too optimistic for your tastes; that much is clear. What is not immediately revealed is your want for something of that caliber for yourself. You find this in Botan, and you desperately want to squash it out."

"I'm sorry? I don't think I can understand you." Hiei's hand twitched over the hilt of his sword. "Repeat it, please, in a language that isn't from the backwaters of the Human World."

Kurama was starting to lose his patience and get just as irked as Hiei was. "Botan is happy. You want to be happy. Logically it works out great. You subconsciously want that which makes you happy. You haven't been happy your entire life, so why not start now? That is what your mind is telling you. If it were not for your larger, more irrational stubbornness you would have had that by now. Don't blame me for your own mistakes." Kurama stared at the ground. Hiei's face right now could be equal the intensity of the myth of Medusa, so he did not dare look up.

But the opportunity never came. The floor exploded instead, revealing a gigantic spirit force crushing down weightily on the bricks. When the dust cleared, it was the same girl that Hiei encountered earlier, (Peichan was her name? Patchy? Pineapple? Hiei didn't think it was important, anyway) standing in the middle of it all with a bow in hand.

"Hello Hiei-chan, Hiei-chan's friend." She smiled with false innocence, wiggling her fingers. "I was assigned to you. Togou is with your other friends." She frowned, preoccupied.

Meanwhile, Kurama looked towards Hiei. Hiei nodded. Yusuke and Kuwabara were indeed faced off with the girl's partner in crime, about the same distance away as they were when Hiei last checked in.

The girl snapped her fingers as she figured out whatever problem was in her mind moments earlier. "Oh yeah! Where's your woman-friend, Hiei-chan? The one who was with you before?"

"Hiei," Kurama whispered. "Go get her. Now. Make sure she's safe."

He didn't have to be asked twice and disappeared among the snow-dusted buildings, flickering over rooftops, leaving Kurama reaching behind his hair opposite the girl stringing her bow.

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More A/N- the next chapter will come out within the week, because of its size. It will contain only fighting and long bits about feelings or whatever. Look out for it.


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